Surrounded
by not-so-average joe
Summary: takes place right after they meet up in book 4? they are caught by the Skandians.pretend there was never any temujai or whoever. first fanfic! plaes dont crush the young soul of a budding author. flames will be used to cook smores! Muhaha. no slash!
1. Chapter 1

Takes place during book four, after they meet up.

Surrounded

The Skandian party had them surrounded! There was at least 10 of them.

"Drop your weapons!"

The command had come from a big burly Skandian who seemed to be the leader.

Halt considered this and decided that the best course of action was to do what they said. They each dismounted slowly and dropped their weapons. Horace put his sword and his dagger on the ground, while Halt put down his bow and arrows and then proceeded to remove the many hidden weapons he had on him. Will put down his bow and 2 knives, and Evelyn added her dagger to the growing pile. The Skandians looked on in astonishment. How could a party of four have so many weapons? Furthermore, why would they need them?

"Lookey, lookey. What do we have here? Some more Aruleuns for the slave house. How exciting. Put down your hoods I want to see your faces!"

Will looked on in fear. If they recognized him or Evelyn, they would be done for! The others were thinking along the same lines. Then his hazy memory remembered the face before him. It was Slagor. He couldn't believe it, what was he doing clear out here?

Halt watched Wills reaction carefully, the start of recognition, then the slight tremble of his hands as he went to lower his hood. He was scared of this man. _And no wonder, that mans huge! At least three times Wills size ,_Halt thought.

Slagor stepped closer to take a look at his captives, but not to close to Halt, cause he had seen the dangerous look in his eyes. Instead he went over to Will, who was trying to advert his face.

"and who might you be?"

When Will said nothing, Slagor backhanded him. Will whimpered, but still said nothing.

"Answer Dog!"

Halt started for ward, but one of Slagor's men grabbed him from behind, Halt shook him of and stood still.

"Don't touch him" he growled.

"Who are you to give orders?!"

Slagor turned back to Will. Roughly, he took his chin and turned his face towards him so he could see better. Suddenly dropping Will, he turned back to his men and said sharply "Tie this one up tight." He paused to consider Horace and Halt. "On second thought, tie them all up."

Obviously, from Slagor's reaction, Will had caused him some trouble in the past. Halt smirked to himself at the thought. Slagor continued talking.

"Do you know who this is?" he smiled, directing his question to Halt. "You are harboring a fugitive. That is punishable. Now, I'm going to take you all back to Hallasholm and sell you for a nice profit." He looked the each up and down. "I reckon you all are gonna bring me some profit. So don't go running off like last time." The last comment he addressed to Will and Evelyn. They shrank back in fear.

They were both huddled together against the cold. Their hands were tied together and the Skandians attached a rope to each one dragging them on at a grueling pace. Well, not so hard for the Skandians, but they were a considerable amount bigger than any of them, even Horace.

By the end of the day, they were halfway to Hallasholm and Will was exhausted. The forced pace through the deep snow was troublesome and chilled them to the core. Every time he stumbled a Skandian jerked him back to his feet with the rope. It was miserable and he feared what would happen when they finally made it back.

OOOOOOOOO

As the Skandians built a fire and put on some food, Halt was thinking through the situation. If it was just him, and maybe Will, he could easily slip away, but he couldn't leave Horace and Evelyn here. Fighting was out of the question, there was just too many. Halt surveyed the scene before him. They were in a sheltered grove of trees, with a fire in the middle. The Skandians were grouped on the other side of the fire. Horace was sitting next to Evelyn, who was shivering, on account of not having warm cloths. Will was huddled under the tree he was tied to, shaking. Halt scootched over to him, sharing his cloak. He pulled Will into his lap, and Will cuddled closer, seeking warmth and comfort. He let out a quiet sob into Halts chest.

"Shh. Hey, it'll be okay. Shh."

_He must be terrified, _Halt thought. He held him until, exhausted, they both fell asleep. The Skandians didn't seem to notice. At least, not until about an hour later.

OOOOOO

Halt and Will woke with a sharp cry of pian. The Skandian standing over them had just booted them in the ribs.

"oi! What are you two doing?"

Will, already cranky from getting woke up in such a rough manner, rounded on the Skandian and snarled "What was that for?!"

Then, his mind seemed to catch up with his mouth, but he didn't apologize. The Skandian, startled at the violent reaction, backed off, then realized what he had just done. He grabbed Will by the back of his thin shirt, pulling him out of Halts lap and dropping him in a deep snow drift.

"Slagor warned me about you. All it takes is a firm hand he said. Do you want to come play with him some more, hmmm?"

Wills face was pale and he started to shake.

"Scared now are you? Learn some respect dog. And stay away from him." He pointed and Halt.

Once he was gone, Will slunk back to Halt, glaring after the big Skandian. Halt gave him a warning look, but Will ignored it and curled up next to him. Halt listened to his breathing deepen and wondered what the Skandian meant by 'want to go play with him some more?'

OOOOOO

please R+R!!! i wont post then next chappie till i have some reviews. pay up people!

sorry im so mean to poor willy boy. i like him, but that usually bodes unwell for him. muwhahaha!


	2. Flowers

**I realize I didn't put up a disclaimer for the last one. Its cause I'm in denial. You know I own RA! You know it in your heart of hearts!**

**You do... don't you?**

**...Fine! I don't own RA! Just because I'm a compulsive liar doesn't mean you have to go around popping my collective bubbles! Meany.**

Chapter 2-Flowers

The next morning, Will woke up shivering from cold. Halt was already awake and watching the Skandians eat. Will eyed their food, wondering if he could sneak over and grab some before anyone noticed. Apparently, the guard had noticed and he chuckled.

"Hungry, are we? Well then I suppose if you want some food, you can have some, if you can reach it."

Will perked up visibly, "Really?" the Skandian nodded. Halt however, saw through the trick. Will was still tied to the tree by his hands. Will got up and walked towards the campfire and reached out, forgetting about the rope. He barley couldn't reach, and looked back sullenly. Suddenly, a mischievous glint entered his eyes, but it quickly disappeared as a he adopted a hurt expression. He looked like he was about to cry. Halt knew that look and rolled his eyes. Will was trying o get the burly Skandian to feel guilty about messing with him. He'd done it to Halt tons of times. Oddly enough, it worked. The Skandian obviously didn't want to deal with a crying kid, so he quickly took a little piece of meat from the spit and tossed it to him. Will gave Halt a cheery smile and walked back over to him, while the Skandian glared, put out at being tricked like that.

Taking the piece of meat, he gave it to Evelyn. Will had noticed that her stomach rumbling earlier. She and Horace had woken up in time to watch Wills act. Coincidentally, Evelyn had rolled her eyes as well. He had used that repeatedly on her, and she watched him use it on others. The remarkable thing was, he looked so genuine about it.

Halt was quiet proud of his apprentice, although he would never have admitted it. Will was starving, and in point of fact, he was always starving. Halt had woken up cause Wills stomach had been rumbling so loud. Now he watched as Evelyn split it with him and Horace.

Just then, the Skandians untied the ropes from the trees and retied it to their belts. Once again, the four captives were jerked along, until they stopped, around noon for a lunch break and to rest their feet of their considerable load.

Will was looking around, wishing he had some food, when he noticed a bright orange flower peaking up through the snow. he smiled brightly and walked over to it.

"Will" Horace hissed, "Come back before they see you."

Will smirked at him. "They wont see me."

Horace mumbled something under his breath that sounded faintly disbelieving. Will scowled at him.

The other three captives watched Will curiously. He was about to pick the flower, but then a large boot stamped down on it, and the Skandian who it belonged to laughed. Will followed the boot up the leg and all the way to the owners face. He stood up and glared at Slagor, rage boiling off him. Then he stepped up delicately on a convenient tree stump next to them, to be tall enough to see into his black beady eyes. Slagor was watching him cautiously, when out of nowhere, Will smacked him across the face with his tied together hands, snarling

"That was a pretty flower!"

_(i was quite tempted to end the chapter there. ;P)_

Slagor and the rest of the crew didn't take it very well. After an initial shock that a captive would even have the nerve to do that, Slagor's eyes narrowed and he said menacingly "Your gonna regret that."

The other captives blanched.

00000

Will fought the burly Skandian that grabbed his rope, but to no avail. The group of men slowly closed in on him and his face paled, but he sealed his lips firmly, determined not give them the satisfaction of hearing his pain.

The first blow stung a bit but, not enough to make him cry out. A particularly big Skandian punched him i the gut, knocking the breath out of Will with a Woosh. Will staggered back, gasping, and trying to stay upright. Then all hell broke lose. When they finally decided they were done with him and dumped him back over by the other captives, Will was unconscious and barley breathing.

While the Skandians were beating Will, Evanlyn had curled up next to Horace who was watching with a horrified expression, and started to cry. Halt was straining against the ropes that held him, yelling desperately at their captors, to get them to stop. he soon realized that his yelling was doing no good but to make his throat sore, and soon stopped, opting to just sit quietly and wait for them to finish.

Inside Halt was seething. He could seen his apprentice's pulse fluttering weakly against his throat as he waited for Will to awaken.

_(thought about ending it there to. TeHe.)_

000000

In the morning, Will finally woke up, to the smell of bacon sizzling, again. This time however, there was no doubt that he wasn't getting any. He groaned as the events of the day before came flooding back to him. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in his side and a voice with uncharacteristically gentle quality to it telling him to take it slow weakened his resolve. Will lay back down, taking short, sharp breaths to avoid aggravating his side further. Unfortunately, this only served to hurt more, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Halt observed his pained features. "Slowly, slowly Will." Halt pushed him back down gently and gave him a once over.

"Your wrist is sprained and it looks like you have at least one broken rib. Probably have one hell of a headache to."

Will nodded, but cut it short because it made his brain feel like it was sloshing around in his skull. Valiantly, but gingerly, he tried to sit up again, this time managing it.

**sorry its so short! *ducks rotten fruit* i was sooooo busy. my parents found out about my account here *cringes* and now i kinda have to sneek in to post, so sorry if updates are not regular. more reviews please, there like gold! id like to thank everyone that reviewed last chapter. it was really good motivation! :P**

**PS. Willie boy is NOT gay. (no offense to gay people or stories out there)**

**PPS. Will is the main character and unless i missed the memo, he is not going to die. but i might torment him some ... k alot.:D**

**Hurry and review so i can post the next chappie!**


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